The US Climate Action Center threw an event this morning to celebrate the release of its first phase report of America’s Pledge, as part of its “We Are Still In” campaign. The 93-paged report details targets and ambitions of thousands of U.S. states, cities, universities and businesses emerging as the “new face of American leadership on climate change.” However, as the Jerry Brown, governor of California stepped on the stage, activists holding banners saying “still in for what?” were escorted out of the Fiji Dome in which the event was being held.

The story behind the tension going on between the governor and the activists is the fracking history the state of California had, making it the country’s most polluted state. According to the American Lung Association, eight of the 10 cities with the country’s highest year-round concentration of particulate matter between 2013 and 2015 were in California. It is also home to seven of the 10 American cities with the worst ozone pollution. Environmentalists argue that this is a result of the state government –
represented in Brown – being soft on corporate polluters.

“That is really good noise, but it doesn’t get the job done,” Brown responded to the protestors right before they were escorted out of premises.